Sharing recipes and stories to connect cooks

A NEW creative project of Brigid Corcoran is keeping her linked to Saltbush Kitchen’s customers while they can’t visit her Buninyong store.

Bushfoods at Home is a web series she’s created to beam native bushfood stories and recipe ideas into people’s homes, and keep herself focussed, at a time where the community is seeking comfort.

“It’s common through Saltbush Kitchen that people want to know more, different ways to use bushfoods, so the series came from that,” she said.

“With my friendships, and through my hospitality networks, a lot of them have introduced bushfoods into their own kitchens. I thought it would be great to see what they’re doing to use them. It’s about sharing information.”

Each episode features a recipe, but some also look at local gardens, catering to viewers spending more time in their yards than ever before, and those keen to grow bushfoods at home.

“Shirley and Andrew are friends of mine with incredible gardens, so I was lucky enough to see them,” Ms Corcoran said.

“There’s an episode with Sara Kittelty from Kittelty’s cakes. We’ve cooked together for years and always play with bushfoods.

“Katrine from Maggie & Kate, a little café in Buninyong, is an old-style baker with lot of her mum’s recipes. Over the years, we’ve put bushfoods through her recipes too, so we did a really nice episode with her.”

One of the latest episodes is with Dianne Ray from restaurant, The Shared Table, looking at pepperberry sauce with kangaroo.

Now that people have more time to spend in their kitchen, Ms Corcoran knows engaging with food will be a bonding experience for families in self-isolation. She encourages experimentation.

“Connecting to, and sharing food, is happening a lot,” she said.

“My nephew is in Ballarat, so last week I sent him a little pack of wattle seed, and told him to watch episode five, so he could make the biscuits. That’s about my connection to him.

“The series has been really fun. I’ve got family in Ireland and England watching the videos too, which is really nice, connecting with them overseas.”

Some of Ballarat’s VCE food studies students are also utilising Bushfoods at Home, to aid their schoolwork while in isolation.

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